Discrimination Against Immigrants Harms Youth

Other than having been born in the same generation, Richard, 14, and Javier, 17, had nothing in common. The first word which comes to mind is unfairness; unfairness is often a part of life, but this type of unfairness upon youngsters is something which needs to be addressed.

For Richard and his small group of close friends, growing up in a middle-class area in New York, life was about Hope. Each of the boys knew from their earliest years that if they worked hard, studied hard, and stayed the right path, their lives and futures were almost limitless. Each had a personal goal, the potential to fulfill it, and there were no insurmountable barriers to attaining his dreams.

To tell a boy like Javier that he could become a teacher or a doctor would have been like telling him he could become the King of England. Equally bright, equally conscientious, his potential was limited-- by his national origin, by the color of his skin.

One of the documents upon which the United States of America was based, the Declaration of Independence, states "we hold these truths to be self-evident... that all mean are created equal... endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Two points there: these rights are birthrights, granted by God Himself; and to "all men"-- it does not say all American citizens, it says all men. "To secure these rights, governments are instituted..." this document states that it is the place of the government to protect people's rights; and, again, the Declaration does not say "some" people, nor "specific" people, it says all.

When it comes to people like Javier, many Americans tend to dismiss the fact that they are included in both the Creator's gifts and the document which attests to uphold all men's rights. When it comes to those like Javier, many people see fit to dismiss them as "nameless, voiceless Illegals." The Declaration, just as the words on the Statue of Liberty, makes no such distinction-- it stands for everyone, or it stands for nothing.

Like these other inalienable rights, Hope is a birthright; yet for young men like Javier, hope is something which simply does not exist-- one can see its absence even in the eyes of little children. One may walk the streets of the Barrio and see the consequences-- human beings deprived of hope, using dope as an anesthetic against the hopelessness, gang activity as a placebo for their sense of powerlessness.

Those who clamor for stricter control of immigration and border patrol enforcement somehow miss the point that rights and liberty and hope are meant to be extended to all; and somehow also conveniently forget what is taught in nearly every elementary school-- that the United States of America was and is "A Nation of Immigrants." Most, for that matter, in looking far enough back into their own family histories, could see that their own people also came from somewhere else.

It's time to stop making excuses for what is nothing but unacceptable bigotry. It's time to stop considering those who cross the border from Mexico to the United States as being any different than one's own ancestors-- and no less deserving of the opportunities which people who were born in this country take for granted as their own and never question the validity of that fact. It's far past time that little children have something to look forward to other than a life of mere survival-- all children were created equal, too.

One can almost hear the refrain of "yes, but-;" no, excuses don't cut it-- if the excuses of overcrowding, job scarcity, etc., were valid, the United States would be putting as much emphasis on barring people from other nations as it does to those from Mexico. I've never seen anyone patrolling the northern border to keep Canadians out of the United States.

Mexican immigrants should not have to exist in fear for their lives and safety; they should not, for that matter, have to settle for substandard wages and a substandard mode of living that no American citizen would tolerate. As a culture, they have much to contribute; as individuals, they are fine human beings-- with just as much "right" to a life of hope and fulfillment as everyone else.